Exhibitions

The exhibition Altá di Kòrsou (altars of Curacao) opened on September 17, 2009. It was dedicated to Father Paul Brenneker and Elis Juliana. This exhibition is based on their collections about religiosity, obtained fifty years ago and subsequently handed over to NAAM.

The main topic was the religious life of the Afro-Curacao population as expressed by home altars dedicated to San Antonio, the most popular saint of Curacao, a Catholic Altar and an altar of Montamentu. The exhibition was set up by Tirzo Martha and inspired by the know-how of Bob Harms, Jossy Pieter, Joyce Zimmerman and others. The exhibition and surrounding publications were made possible through sponsoring by the Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds and APNA.

Exhibitions

For this exhibition, among other things, the following will be used:

Artifacts such as: school benches, writing desks, blackboards, didactic materials , school alters, books, pointers, crucifixes, wall maps, school bells, slate-pencils and slates. Map stamps, abacuses, inkpots (if there is any), rulers, books from those times (Zonnig Nederlands), the Guardian Angel, Nos Tera, Catechism. If there is any, the record Schoon is de West (we still have a list from 2002).

Exhibitions

• We’re you, in one way or the other involved in WWII?
• Do you know someone who was involved in WWII and do you want to introduce us to that person?
• Do you have an object or story to share about WW II?

We would appreciate your help. We are looking for objects, stories and volunteers.
Please get more information on our Facebook page: Guera na Kòrsou
We can be reached at phone numbers 4621933 / 4621934/ 521 50 54 asking for Marlon Reina

Series Cultural Heritage

The steel pressure tank that was made at the end of the fifties by employees of Shell Curaçao N.V. was used for twenty years by St. Elisabeth Hospital (Sehos). Dozens of divers with phenomena related to the decompression sickness, also called the Bends, were treated in it. But diabetic patients, too, and persons with burns benefited from the treatment in the decompression tank, in which pure oxygen was administered to them via a mask. This tank, which in the meantime has been declared unfit, is exhibited at the Curaçao Seaquarium. A more modern tank of the marines has taken over the tasks.
“The pressure tank was a gift by Shell to Doctor Kroon,” relates Edwin Lorenzo Valeriano, nurse at Sehos, who operated the tank for decades. “At first it was at the waterside, at Batipaña. It was the first decompression tank that Curaçao possessed. Prior to that, divers with the phenomena related to the decompression sickness had to descend into the water again.”

Series Cultural Heritage

In 1919 he was born at Bakel (near Helmond in Brabant, the Netherlands) as the middle son in a rural family of eight children. After completing high school at Nijmegen, he joined the Black Friars. Subsequently, in 1947, father Nooijen was sent to the Netherlands Antilles together with five others as priests. In those days, it was not possible to influence this decision of the father superior. After a twelve-day trip on board the wooden ship ‘Johan de Wit’, father Nooijen arrived in Curaçao.

Father Nooijen did not experience any problem whatsoever with the transition from the Netherlands to Curaçao. “On the contrary, you are young. It was interesting, it was appealing. I could not say what appealed most to me. Everything belongs together; there are no distinctions. It all tallies at a certain level.”

In the countryside in Brabant, his interest for flora and fauna had already been aroused. And during his studies, father Nooijen got in touch with topics like evolution theory, spiritualism, and later also mysticism, via publications. This has never let go of him. It was expressed in, among other things, a fascination for antiquity. Once in the Antilles, father Nooijen as a hobbyist was from the outset, whether or not with the help of some acolytes, in search of remains from mainly the Pre-Colombian era. Especially in the fields and on flat grounds, for excavating was out of the question. In Aruba, Curaçao as well as Bonaire he found numerous tools, tooled stones and shells, but also a lot of rough earthenware, pipe and bottle fragments. All these finds can be seen in the local museums.

Through works by the French theologian and paleontologist De Chardin* and later the Jewish auteur Etty Hillesum, father Nooijen became more and more fascinated by evolution, spiritualism and mysticism. In the forties and fifties controversial topics for Catholicism and not accepted by the pope. With the Black Friars however, there was space though to go deeply into this kind of topics. During sermons in the church, father Nooijen expressed his ideas. He also organized meditation meetings. Father Nooijen often published by means of articles in, for example, La Union and the Amigoe. He wrote interesting works, among other things, concerning ethnic history and demography of Curaçao in the 18th century, later published as a report of the AAINA***. This work with christening as the main theme is a description of the demographic characteristics of the Catholic community around 1750, especially those of the slaves. It gives an idea of society and the mentality at the time and the role that Catholics had. From 1986 until 2000, father Nooijen described annually his meditations in the Amigoe at Christmas and Easter.

The interest for antiquity is in the meantime a closed book. The spiritual interest has remained. “It is not a proclamation, but a perception, an experience. A permanent development, for your interest shifts.” Father Nooijen calls it a free belief; it is not attached to a specific religion. Yoga meetings are a part of his daily routine. And father Nooijen reads a lot. Important pieces are always marked or underlined and sometimes reread as much as thirty times. Or, in order to comprehend it fully, even retyped.

Father Nooijen enjoys living in Curaçao. The environment, the climate, his own things surrounding him make him feel at home.” As long as I can move freely here and move around with my car, I will stay in Curaçao.

Series Cultural Heritage

The organ in the Mikvé Israel Synagogue in Curaçao was consecrated on October 24, 1866. For almost a hundred years, this organ rendered faithful service as musical support during services, but since approximately 1950, it has not been played any more. Due to the bad condition of this antique musical instrument, it was decided to switch to electric organs and since 1980 a computerized digital electronic organ has been used.
But the majority of the Jewish congregation think that the organ has to be restored. In the past, various efforts were made to preserve the old pipe organ, but with no success. The 135-year-old organ has suffered from the years and the climate. The extensive restoration, which is necessary, costs money, a lot of money. During the visit of the Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander in April 2001, Holland promised to make three hundred thousand Dutch guilders available for the restoration, but that is not sufficient. The Jewish community itself has to raise the rest of the necessary funds, an estimated one hundred thousand guilders. Holland has, moreover, stipulated as a condition that within a year a plan must have been submitted for the restoration, otherwise the right to subsidy will lapse. The restoration is expected to last about two years.

Series Cultural Heritage

Curaçao

In Curaçao, wooden houses were built especially by the lower-income classes, contrary to the Windward Islands where wood was the most important building material and was used by all the social classes. This wood construction originated in Curaçao after the abolition of slavery in 1863, when former slaves moved to the city. They built their houses on the periphery of old Willemstad: on the Otrobanda side, in the vicinity of Brionweg and at Quinta (north of Hoogstraat), and on the Punda side, especially east of Pietermaai and Berg Altena (Coronet, Nieuw Nederland). These wooden quarters expanded considerably and new quarters arose after the arrival of the Shell oil industry at the beginning of the 20th century, when many workers from the Caribbean region came to Curaçao to work in the refinery. In the city, quarters like Fleur de Marie and St. Jago grew rapidly. Outside the city, near the refinery arose quarters like Marchena and Buena Vista.

In Curaçao, the wooden houses are basically simple in design: one story with a rectangular floor plan covered with a hip roof made of corrugated zinc sheets. This kas di tabla is derived from the kunuku house, the rectangular plantation cottage. Just as this type of housing, the wooden houses usually have a rather symmetric appearance: a centrally placed door with a shuttered window on either side. The houses generally have few ornaments. In Otrobanda (Kortijn) we find houses of which only the façade is made of traditional quarry stones and the rest of wood. In Otrobanda, examples are also found of wooden houses with expensive roof tiles as roof covering. Two-story wooden houses are exceptional in Curaçao.

Although there is no detailed inventory, it can be assumed that there are in all over a hundred wooden houses in the historic quarters that are worth while preserving. They are, however, disappearing at a rapid rate, due to lack of maintenance, but also because owners renovate their houses from wood to stone. The house is then also enlarged and the zinc roof is replaced by corrugated sheet (whether or not free from asbestos). The wooden character of these quarter is rapidly disappearing.

In the framework of the urban renewal, a pilot project was started in the quarter of St. Jago a number of years ago. New (stone) houses were then also built on open sites within the quarter. Recently, the renovation of the wooden houses was started.

Fleur de Marie – Cultural Heritage

The route of the biennial Open Monument Day, which will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2003 in the quarter of Scharloo Abou, will also lead through the ‘wooden quarter’ of Fleur de Marie, situated against the rocky slope the Scharloo hill. Around 1900, working-class stone houses were built on the border of the quarter, along Bargestraat. The rest of Fleur de Marie was divided into small parcels that were rented out to people who subsequently built their own wooden houses themselves.
Until recently, the lands of Fleur de Marie were for the greater part the property of one Curaçao family. In 2001, the lands of the quarter were bought by the foundation Monumentenzorg Curaçao and N.V. Stadsherstel Willemstad. The intention is to clean up the quarter. It is a good thing that the these organizations and the Government realize that the historic buildings of Fleur de Marie, much of which have already disappeared, also belong to our cultural heritage, which has to be treated with great care.

Series Cultural Heritage

If we consider the spread of ranchos along the coasts of Curaçao, it appears that almost all of them are found along the south coast of the island between Fuik Bay and Oostpunt. Only a few are found along the north coast of Oostpunt and along the north coast of Klein Curaçao. Elsewhere on the island, there is an abundance of caves in the cliffs along both the north coast and the bays of the south coast which the fishermen could use as a sleeping-place and shelter and for the temporary storage of nets. Due to a deviating shape of the coast, such spots with natural shelters are practically not found on the east side of the island and the fishermen apparently felt the necessity to build their shelters themselves. On strategic spots between Fuik Bay and Oostpunt, there are no less than 27 of such structures. Others were demolished in the past for stone winning, and disappeared. Only few are still used and maintained by fishermen.

In the past, just as nowadays, the east “head” of Curaçao, or briefly “Kabes” was an important fishing spot to catch mulá, buní and grastèlchi laman (pelagic fishes). This fishing takes place preferably just before sunrise. Before the diesel and gasoline engines were generally used (the middle of the 20th century), trolling was done with little sailing-boats. In order to get going early, the fishermen would spend the night near the lagoon of Kabes, close to the natural freshwater wells on the spot. The boats were usually anchored at night along the south coast, just east of the most easterly boundary wall of plantation Duivelsklip, in an area that is known as Rancho in popular speech. This area lies on the west side of the lagoon and at the beginning of the rubble wall “Basora”, which separates the lagoon from the reefs of the south coast. At Rancho, there are still at least eleven ranchos to be seen in varying states of deterioration. The use of this area by fishermen is very old. As early as 1779, the author Hering mentions a “kind of little harbor to protect fishermen’s shacks and canoes of the Indians” at this most easterly situated navigable inland waterway of the island.

Most ranchos are in a terribly dilapidated state, which indicates that they are not often used nowadays. Fragments of old gin bottles of both glass and pottery, indicate that these spots were used from the middle of the 19th century. The ranchos are usually situated close to the coast on spots that are subject to heavy sea and inundations during storms and hurricanes. Most of the existing structures, therefore, probably date back to later than 1877 when the island was struck by the catastrophic hurricane “Tecla”. In Bonaire, too, (near Lac) and in Aruba (Oranjestad) there are and/or were small areas on the coast with the name of “Rancho”. These place-names could have a related origin on those islands too.

In two earlier issues, it was brought forward that the term “beaches of the sea” was not defined very closely through the ages. All natural shapes of the coast (such as rocky coasts and mangrove woods) were reckoned among the “beaches of the sea”. It was also discussed how, as early as in the early colonial era, measures were taken to guarantee the public nature of and access to the coastal strip for the population. As a consequence of this, there are patrulis (patrol paths) all over the island leading to the sea. Nowadays, many of these paths are used very little. In this article, it becomes also clear that the public accessibility of the coast also applied to an ample strip of land to bivouac and spend the night at sea. The presence of the primitive fishermen’s shacks, known as ranchos, spread along the coast of Curaçao, form a silent witness of the degree of the public nature in the past few centuries. Historical and geological investigation into the ranchos may give new insights into daily life of ancient times in the future. The historical memory becomes blurred rapidly, however. Anyone who can remember or add something to the location or use of ranchos is requested to make this available for documentation by contacting the author.

Series Cultural Heritage

Retired Nurse Lizzie Hassell and Naomi Hodge, both of the village of The Bottom, recall using the jars for water or bush tea in the days before refrigeration. The porous clay pot kept the liquids cool. Similar clay water vessels are found throughout the West Indies, but have various names. Hassell calls her clay pot a “gurglet,” which is a variation of “goglet” or “gargoulette.” This name probably comes from the gurgling noise the pitcher would make as it gulps in air through the same spout that pours the water. On some islands the piece is called a “goblet” but this is clearly a misheard version of “goglet” since goblet describes a stemmed drinking glass, not a pitcher. In some instances, a goglet is more vase-shaped (elongated) than round container.

Nevis

Hodge calls her two pieces by the very common name “monkey jar.” No one seems to know why the word “monkey” is used, but a monkey jar is always very spherical. Both owners say the monkeys were purchased on St. Kitts, with whom Saba had vigorous trade in the last century. However, the monkeys were undoubtedly manufactured on neighboring Nevis, as St. Kitts has no clay, whereas Nevis has a clay vein that is still mined. Young Miss Lizzie accompanied her father to St. Kitts when he went to purchase supplies for his shoe cobbling business. She remembers that there were miniature children’s toy versions of clay household pots.

Saba can probably be ruled out as a producer since there is no evidence of ceramic manufacture on Saba in post-colonial times, although one tempering ingredient – volcanic tuff – is present on the island and has been used by locals in making cement. Archeometric analysis can determine where clay comes from, but it means destroying the pot to collect a small chip or sherd to do this. This type of examination is routine in archeological digs that turn up lots of ceramic remains. Scientists even use potsherds to determine food ways, diet, and thus life styles of the people who used them. Similar artifacts provide a unique link to the past of enslaved Africans, whose history is lacking documentation by the slaves themselves.
The low-fire earthenware artifact actually looks like a large rustic teapot or kettle, with a very globular body, in appearance slightly taller (12 inches, including handle) than it is round. The large surface area and the porous clay promote enough transpiration that the contents are cooled. It is reddish brown, with black firing splotches. The rough, unglazed exterior has some directional scrape marks indicating the moist surface was smoothed down with a small stone. This burnishing strengthens the surface bond of clay particles.

A stirrup handle crosses the circular top entrance and ends at the short spout, which is mounted high on the shoulder. There is a small lip on the end of the strap opposite the spout. I think this lip not decorative, but functional as it and the opposing spout serving as “stops” to prevent the monkey from slipping out of grasp when both hands encircle it at the widest circumference: At 6 pounds plus, the thick-bodied monkeys are heavy and when full, must have often been hefted with both hands.

There are no decorations, incisions, or potter’s insignia. The monkeys originally had knobbed lids, but all are now missing. Otherwise, the three Saba samples are in perfect condition.

The Saba examples have miniscule variations due to their hand-made nature, but are remarkably alike given the fact that Hassell’s is 70 years old and belonged to her grandmother, while Hodge’s pair are only 30. Verifying age is difficult since the pieces are too young for successful carbon dating and design elements have remained constant over a long time period.

Afro-Caribbean artisans

In fact, monkey jars can be traced back several centuries in the Caribbean. Afro-Caribbean artisans traditionally made this type of pottery, but European craftsmen made low-fire ceramics on Barbados, and probably introduced the craft since sugar pots were needed on sugar plantations. After cane juice was reduced by multiple boilings, it was poured into low-fire, red clay containers or “sugarloaves” to crystallize. Historian Père Labat, on St. Christopher in 1702, comments in his travel report that sugar pots had to be remade after the English broke them to destroy French plantation economy. With plantations able to produce sugarloaves on this scale, enslaved African or indentured European artisans would have been highly skilled and able to make household items from the same clay with the same technology, and possibly sell some of them at Sunday markets. In some cases, plantation owners encouraged the production of surplus to create an additional revenue stream, and it became a cottage industry. In some communities only women were potters, but on Barbados men did the work.

Pottery manufacture is documented on Barbados in the 1670s; on Nevis it can be traced back to 1682; Antigua by the early 1700s; and sales of “earthen pots” were legalized in Jamaica by 1711. The Jamaica National Heritage Trust has a monkey jar dated from the period 1810-1900, which looks exactly like the Saba ones, minus the nub at the end of the handle and with the addition of decorative incisions. In 1827, Isaac Mendes Elisario did a sketch of “the Negro Population of the Island of Jamaica,” which depicts an African water-jar seller with a “monkey jar” in the wooden sales tray he carries on his head. There are antique monkey jars in the St. Kitts Museum and also identical new ones for sale in the museum gift shop.
Pottery Sellers, Kingston, Jamaica, 1837-38
Newcastle Pottery, Nevis, still makes monkey jars in the traditional way. The clay, which they gather themselves, is worked–hand-molded and coiled–on a flat table (no wheel), dried, polished, and then pit fired (no kiln). The Newcastle collective makes monkey jars, yabbas, coal pots, flowerpots, and decorative items. Potter Almena Cornelius told me there is still a large local market, and ceramic items are sold as tourist souvenirs and to hotel restaurants that cook in them to offer authentic cuisine for “West Indian Nights.”

Archeologists discuss whether the form of the Monkey Jar is African. However, the basic Monkey form seems to be very ancient, and I found a Coptic gargoulette in the Louvre in Paris that is very similar. I wonder if the design, rather than having a specific ethnic origin, is not just the archetypical design solution to a common problem: a simple, easily replaced vessel for storing and cooling drinking water.